Despite a complete lack of consensus from the public The House of Lords voted last week to move forward with the legalization of gay-marriage in the UK. Further the Anglican Bishops have stated that there will be no further organised opposition from them.
The Lords voted 390 to 148 to accept the bill “in principle,” and to reject Lord Geoffrey Dear’s proposal to kill it on constitutional grounds. The bill will now begin entertaining clarifications and amendments such as protections and exemptions for people of faith, guidelines for teaching in schools, and applications concerning freedom of speech.
Rt. Rev. Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, the Convenor of the Lords Spiritual made the following statement as he waved a white flag with one hand while signaling for the Prime Minister's eye of approval with the other.
“Both Houses of Parliament have now expressed a clear view by large majorities on the principle that there should be legislation to enable same-sex marriages to take place in England and Wales It is now the duty and responsibility of the Bishops who sit in the House of Lords to recognize the implications of this decision and to join with other Members in the task of considering how this legislation can be put into better shape. For the Bishops, the issue now is not primarily one of protections and exemptions for people of faith, important though it is to get that right, not least where teaching in schools and freedom of speech are concerned.”
This is one man that’s been in Westminster too long. His perspective is that because clear majorities in parliament support something that it subsequently should go forward – as if a parliamentary vote alone established that it were the right thing to do.
Lord Dannatt, however took the government to task for moving forward with the bill. He said “Following due process and procedure is a principle that I spent the 40 years of my professional life upholding, We fought for the ballot box for 38 years in Northern Ireland... and now as a Parliamentarian I am asked to accept an abuse of the democratic process and I will not do it.”
Problems still remain with the finer points of the legislation which will have to be worked out. Fidelity in marriage doesn’t quite work the same way with a gay couple, the defining lines are different and in Britain, where adultery is grounds for divorce, it faces being redefined. At the moment the government has taken a totally discriminatory approach to solve this with adultery not considered grounds for divorce amongst gays.
Further evidence of the government’s crooked positions on the issue, designed to slalom through constitutionality issues, is that while gays will retain the option for civil unions straight couples are forbidden from them. It seems the Prime Minister is going to give gay rights campaigners whatever they want while telling the rest of the public to go stuff it.
Christians gathered outside parliament to pray during the 2 day debate. Andréa Williams of Christian Concern had this to say:
“It’s been great to see so many Christians gather outside Parliament over the past couple of days to pray for our leaders. The atmosphere has been fantastic. Christians know how precious God’s design for marriage and the family is. We know how important it is for the future of our country which is why we’ve been out here praying yesterday and today. We are disappointed that the House of Lords has allowed the Bill to progress. There is no mandate for this Bill. It wasn’t in any of the major parties’ election manifestos, it wasn’t in the Coalition Government’s Agreement and it was not in the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament last year or this year. Due democratic process has been disregarded”.
Williams is absolutely right! This was David Cameron’s hidden agenda. It is unlikely he would have become party leader if it was known what his position was and how much time and effort he would put into it.
Lord Ashcroft’s recent polling revealed that supporters of gay-marriage held a 45-33 advantage but that only 1 in 4 Brits. saw it as an issue that would help determine how they would vote. Amongst those the issue is opposed 15-12 indicating that stated opposition to gay-marriage is much stronger than stated support which may often be tepid.
The issue continues to harm the Conservative Party structurally. ITV research reveals that 73% of party associations report having lost members with 51% citing gay-marriage as the issue. On this Lord Ashcroft, a Tory, said it is “the price we have paid for spending half a year talking amongst ourselves”.
The implications in education for full-on recognition are staggering, as will be the brands new complexities of child custody issues. Anne McIntosh, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, also warned about the “law of unintended consequences”.
At the same time the Prime Minister is sounding more like President Obama every day. He said he will stop focusing on policies such as same-sex marriage and concentrate on “big picture” issues. This is the kind of gobbledy-# we’ve come to expect from the American side of ‘the pond’. You’re not quite sure if Cameron’s reading yesterday’s paper just to fool you into thinking he’s catching up.
The issue is not dead; but with The Labour Party fully on board, sparing a few righteous Catholics, it seems like the Commons and the Lords will be saying ‘I do’ at the altar of legislation fairly shortly.
